Environmental Responsibility Statement:
The art world has an important role to play in a time of environmental crises. Arts organisations have a disproportionately large impact on the environment, primarily through international travel, shipping, energy and and materials. We have an opportunity to encourage sustainability and use our public platform and cultural influence to set a positive example, encouraging and supporting others to take action.
At Kate MacGarry, environmental sustainability is an important part of our mission to promote contemporary art and inspire audiences to engage with culture. As an organisation, we know that our main direct environmental impacts include shipping art for exhibitions, travel, and energy use in our buildings. We are committed to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and waste in line with the GCC's aim to reduce the sector’s carbon emissions by at least 50% by 2030.
We have committed to tackling these impacts by:
o Joining the Gallery Climate Coalition and pledging to at least halve our carbon emissions by 2030, from a 2019 baseline.
o Regularly calculating the carbon footprint of our operations, to track progress towards this target.
o Setting specific targets for the major parts of our footprint, including:
o Reducing staff flights to a minimum of 50% of pre-COVID levels by 2025, and a further 25% by 2030.
o Ensuring the majority of our international shipping is carried out by sea, rail or road rather than air by 2028.
o Reducing our building energy use by 30%, installing solar panels and replacing all fossil gas heating systems with electric heat pumps or other appropriate technology before 2030.
o Ensuring all of our packing materials are reusable or curbside recyclable by 2026, as a step towards zero-waste operations by 2030.
o Using only low or zero emissions vehicles for local deliveries by 2025.
The actions we are taking to meet these targets include:
o Speaking to our shippers about alternatives to air freight.
o Planning our exhibitions and events with care to minimise the need for air freight.
o Producing exhibitions locally where possible.
o Reducing our staff travel and planning our attendance at international events to reduce the need for air travel (i.e. only participating in art fairs we can reach by train and road).
o Working more closely with international colleagues, using local expertise.
o Carrying out an energy audit of our buildings to find opportunities for energy reduction and renewable generation.
o Working with other GCC members on projects to help develop more sustainable packaging, transport and energy saving solutions for the whole sector.
o Speaking to our suppliers and service providers about their carbon footprint, and looking for opportunities to encourage them to take action, or to switch to alternative suppliers who will.
o Maintaining a Green Team that meets every month to track our targets, actions and carbon emissions with an aim to create a strong culture of sustainability.
Kate MacGarry is a founding and active member of the Gallery Climate Coalition. To achieve active status we had to demonstrate that our organisation had implemented environmental sustainability best practice in line with GCC guidance. Active Membership is not a certification of sustainability nor a claim that we are doing things perfectly. We are committed to doing our best to assess, report and reduce our impact, taking any actions we can and working out other solutions as we go.
For any questions or enquires about our environmental statement please contact mail@katemacgarry.com